Pantry Oven Cabinet Tray Dividers on The Top Shelf

Pantry kitchen oven cabinet designs often accommodate baking trays and cookie sheets on the top shelf. This is a great idea and a very handy thing to have. If you are considering building one of these units, I would like to give you a couple of pointers. If you are custom ordering your cupboards ask your cabinet design expert if they will be putting a scooped out area on the dividers.

1) It’s important to put some sort of scoop in the tray dividers in the front. This will allow room for your hands to be able to grab a hold of the cookie or baking pans that you have stored in this area.

2) The dividers should be set back from the front edge of the cabinetry no less than three inches if you are going to be using hinges that screw into the inside of the cabinet side. This set back will allow you to be able to attach the hinge and also make the necessary adjustments that will need to be made to get the doors to align properly.


The reason that tray dividers work so well in the top of an oven cabinet or pantry is because the back of the top shelf cannot be accessed unless you are on a step stool. If you design the pantry or oven cabinet to have tray dividers the only time you will need a step stool will be to clean the interior of the cabinet. That should mean that a step-up will only be need once in a great while. The reasoning behind this is that the cook sheets and baking pans will be all the way to the front of the cabinet. This makes them easy to grab, even for someone who is short.